LAGOS — The Lagos police command has detained five police escorts attached to Grammy award-winning singer, Damini Ogulu, known as Burna Boy for allegedly opening fire at other clubbers at Club Cubana at Victoria Island, Lagos.
According to preliminary police report by the Bar Beach Police Division, the incident occurred in the early hours of June 8 when the singer and his security team visited the club.
It is understood that Burna Boy used the officers to stoke fracas at the nightclub after he made passes at a married woman who was with her husband, identified as Lawrence Irebami.
Her husband immediately resisted the self-acclaimed African Giant’s attempt to humiliate him, leading to a heated confrontation. The couple had only recently got married, the report said.
In the ensuing melee, Burna Boy’s police escort, identified as Ibrahim, assailed the husband and shot him and his friend, identified as Tolu, in the thigh and head respectively.
The musician, who cheered as the drama was going on, fled the scene. He reportedly left the country for Spain the next day.
Jide, Irebami’s brother, took to social media to call out the singer, informing the public that his brother had returned to Nigeria for his wedding a week ago.
He also accused Cubana’s management of being complicit and not trying to forestall the situation, adding that they had failed to reach out to his family since the incident.
“My brother and his friends came in from the US for a wedding when this thing happened. The annoying part was that Burna Boy was even laughing when this shooting was taking place. He approved of what they did,” he tweeted.
“One of the bullets grazed my brother’s friend in the head while my brother was shot in the thigh. He underwent a surgery on Friday.
“The Cubana people are even denying that anything happened. They have not even reached out to us. It was only the morning of the shooting that a manager at the club, White Lion, interacted with us.”
The Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, who confirmed the arrest of the officers, stated that the policemen were the focus of the investigation, adding that they had not received a complaint from the victim.
“It was the policemen attached to him that shot and it is an internal disciplinary matter. They will explain why they had to shoot into the air and the outcome of their explanation during the investigation will determine what steps to take next,” he said.
“So, it is an internal thing with the police officers that were with him. Except you have news that Burna Boy was the one shooting; then we will have to investigate how he got the gun and all that. But what we have for now is that the policemen were the ones that shot.
“We are treating the policemen internally for disciplinary matters. We didn’t get a report of somebody being hit by a bullet. If somebody was hit by a bullet, anybody treating the person is supposed to have reported but we didn’t get any report of such. The investigation is ongoing.”
Burna Boy and the club are yet to address these allegations as of the time of this report.
This is not the Last Last crooner’s first allegation of targeted violence.
In 2017, he was named in a robbery attack on another artist, Mr. 2kay at Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos.
The police declared him wanted at the time, but the matter was subsequently resolved under undisclosed terms.
